An online speakeasy of potent potables and other pabulam.

We’re under 30 days away from Tales of the Cocktail – are you excited? I am – and it doesn’t hurt that the weekend before, Jay from Oh Gosh! and Rick from Kaiser Penguin will be visiting, just in time for my birthday on the 2nd of July.

To get ready for this busy, momentous time of year, I’ve decided to try something I’ve been threatening to do for a while and which may prove hard, nay foolhardy to try. Call it training, call it flattery, call it insulting, but I have a goal for the next couple of weeks.

I’m going to post a new drink, made up by me, every day. Each drink will be named by someone who will (hopefully) be at Tales.

If you’ve got ideas for someone’s drink, you can always e-mail me, catch me in the Mixoloseum chat room if I happen to be in there, or just post in the comments. I’ve got some ideas, and I won’t guarantee the drinks will be great, or even “good”. But I’m going to try.

And fi you have a better idea for a drink, post it on your blog! (If you don’t have one, you can always comment here.) When we get to Tales, we’ll make ‘em both and see who likes what better.

Sound like fun? I think it does. In fact, we’re going to get this ball rolling right now with the first drink. It was a bit hard for me to come up with this one, as all my mixing stuff is still in the dishwasher, but hey, whatcha gonna do?!

It is another Mixology Monday and our hosts, Joe and Dinah (aka Metagrrrl) over at Bibulo.us, have chosen 19th Century Cocktails as the theme. Thankfully this theme is pretty straight forward because I’ve been pretty busy lately.

The first cocktail I decided on is called the “White Lion.” Here is Mr. Johnson’s instructions:

White Lion1 small table-spoonful of sugar;
2 or 3 dashes of lime or lemon juice, dissolve well with a little seltzer;
1/2 pony-glass of raspberry syrup;
1/4 pony-glass of curacao;
Fill up glass with shaved ice;
1 wine-glassful of St. Croix rum.
Stir up well with a spoon; ornament with the fruits of the season; serve with a straw.
This drink is known for a great number of years in South America.

Alright, where to begin? First off, I have no clue how much a pony-glass or a wine-glass measures to contemporary standards. Harry Johnson himself provides a little guidance by telling us that while he used wine-glass as the measure, he is really referring to a gigger. Arlight, that helps a bit. In recreating this drink, for better or worse, I decided to substitute for the wine-glass measure two fluid ounces. I also treated the pony-glass measure as a fraction of the wine-glass. Here is how my interpretation breaks out:

Seeing as I didn’t have “fruits in season” or shaved ice at my disposal, I decided to shake and strain over fresh ice. The resulting drink is pretty good. It is definitely on the sweet side, but also has a nice rummy kick to it. All together not unpleasant. It is certainly a drink where the ratios could be played with to reach your desired effect – less sweet, more orangey, less raspberry, more rum, etc.

The second cocktail I decided to try was the “Klondyke Cocktail,” also from Harry Johnson.

Klondyke Cocktail3/4 glass full of fine-shaved ice;
3 or 4 dashes of bitters (Boker’s genuine only);
1/2 wine glass of applejack;
1/2 wine glass of French vermouth;
Stir up well with a spoon, strain into a cocktail glass, putting in a medium-size olive, squeeze a piece of lemon peel on top and serve.

Of course, like above, a few liberties had to be taken. I used the same ratio converstion I mentioned earlier. Additionally, while I have no doubt as to the greatness of Boker’s genuine bitters, this is a now defunct product. However, this gives me the perfect opportunity to use my new bottle of The Bitter Truth’s Jerry Thomas Own Decanter Bitters! Plus, honestly, I don’t like olives and I abhore olives in a cocktail. Unless pre-chilled, an olive is like a heat bomb that just loves to warm up my perfectly cold libation. So yeah, anyway . . . .

This is a pretty tasty, if not too exciting cocktail. The lemon twist makes the drink, in my opinion. But the fruitiness of the sweet vermouth plays nicely with the applejack and the whole thing is pretty smooth.

My apologies for not having any photographs of these drinks. My SD card seems to be slowly corrupting itself and I’ve been too lazy to find a replacement.

I want to thank Joe and Dinah again for hosting. Hope you enjoy all the 19th Century cocktails!

and I did a taste test of three different orange liqueurs – Cointreau, Grand Marnier, and Creole Shrubb.

The impetus behind this endeavor was our new acquisition of bottles of Creole Shrubb, as well as knowledge of how certain drinks such as the Satan’s Whiskers will have different variations using both Cointreau and Grand Marnier.Â Marshall has a preference towards Cointreau over all, or at least, he did before the Creole Shrubb.Â I, personally, had usually been agnostic, typically sticking with Cointreau for mixed drinks but not afraid to have a nice big pour of Grand Marnier along with a beer as a post-dinner bar drink.

Yeah, I’d gotten that habit from some bartender friends and it works well as a digestif.Â I just don’t do Budweiser like most of them do.

So we sat down and did the tasting.Â I do believe I have pictures of it, but if you remember from a day or two ago I’ll be darned if I can remember where my dang camera/USB cable is.Â Therefore and thusly, I’ll edit this post with pictures when and if I find them, and you can come back here constantly and check it if it matters that much to you.

EDIT: Twice in a row attempts to insert pictures into the post have caused Firefox to crash.Â Screw this I’ll put in a new post.

(Not tonight, though, since I have kickball.Â At least, assuming that we don’t go to the bar afterwards.Â What, a cocktail nerd can’t go play flip cup with cheap domestic beer?Â Would you rather I do it with a hefeweizen or Belgian?Â Perhaps you’d like to cover my bar tab, eh buddy?Â Huh?Â Would ya?Â Because if you would, that’d be swell.)

A few notes, first.

Each of the liqueurs are 40% alcohol by volume, so 80 proof.Â We did each by nose, color, and taste, with taste being broken up between “straight” and “on ice”.

Another thing:Â I did them in order Cointreau -> Creole Shrubb -> Grand Marnier.Â Marshall did them in the opposite order, either because he’s a card-carrying freedom-hating commie mutant traitor, or possibly because he was sitting on the opposite side of the table from me.Â Keep that in mind for definitions of what we thought of things.

CointreauBase: neutral spirits

Cointreau is the original triple sec.Â In fact, it’s so original that they don’t even put that on the label anymore, THAT’S how original it is.Â If you’re extremely interested in the history of triple secs and Cointreau in general, there are books that go into it in more detail.Â What matters most to me is how well it mixes in drink, and the fact that my precious 375mL bottle, which I’ve refilled several times from miniature bottles because, if you haven’t figured this out already, I’m really not that bright, desperately needs replacing.Â Maybe today.

Color:Â Clear

Nose:

SeanMike:Â I found a hint of orange, but also a hint of alcohol to it.Marshall:Â Clean, sweeter smell, alcohol/medicinal back, not as hot as the other two.Â Strong orange.

Taste (straight):

SeanMike:Â orange (obviously), sweet fills the mouth with a definite burn on swallow, leaving a sweet, sticky orange taste in the mouth and a mellow burn down the throat.Â No taste but orange.Marshall:Â Very sweet, low burn, orange coats mouth well; not bitter; slightly viscous – good mouth feel.

Taste (on ice):

SeanMike: Still has the burn…orange is still prevalent, very little complexity that I can pick up.Marshall:Â Much more viscous; no burn; orange very upfront and dissipates quickly; Ice seems to soften up / round out flavors; very good over ice.

Creole ShrubbBase: Rum

Creole Shrubb is a rare bird in this part of the country – Marshall had to order his from Sam’s Wines over in Chicago while I managed to find mine in a close-out bin over at Ace Beverage.Â Unfortunately for me, not long ago Marshall, some friends, and I polished it off while drinking and smoking cigars at a friend’s place in my condo complex, so it’s gone.Â I’m either going to have to order more or beg/suck up to Joe to get more.

Color:Â tawny, pale (SeanMike), gold (Marshall)

Nose:

SeanMike:Â orange, spice, a bit of rumMarshall:Â sweet, bitter orange not as forward as Grand Marnier, rum back gives it an earthy/musky bent, not as hot as G.M.

Taste (straight):

SeanMike:Â much more subtle orange, no burn at all.Â Leaves an orange afterglow in the mouth with a lingering burn hint in the back of the throat.Â Hints of something floral.Marshall:Â Viscous – good mouth feel; very sweet; no burn; after taste very slightly bitter; woodsy/earthy taste from rum base.Â Round flavor.

Taste (on ice):

SeanMike:Â Lowers the overall hit of orange but still has floral, leaves a lingering burn after swallow that is not unpleasantMarshall:Â Thick; orange is diminished but stays on palette longer; sweetness of rum is enhanced.

Grand MarnierBase: cognac

I spent the last few minutes (since I’m writing this while at my office – sshhhh, don’t tell anyone) trying to think of jokes about cognac and France while wandering around talking to people in my office.Â Yes, it’s an exciting joke, but short of calling it surrendergac or something like that I decided, well, crap, I’m not going to make fun of it.Â To be honest, I don’t know much about Grand Marnier outside of what it is, and no, that’s not an argument about what is is or anything like that.Â I do know you can find really big bottles of it that make me laugh, and really expensive bottles, and that bartenders like to drink it, and so does my future sister-in-law’s dad (who I had high hopes of introducing to Creole Shrubb but the before-mentioned drinking of it with cigars helped negate that), and hey, I like it too.Â Mostly straight, because the only drink I use it in regularly seems to be margaritas, for differing values of “regularly” (i.e. I don’t make those concoctions very regularly, but when I do, I think I use G.M. in it – or maybe in Satan’s Whiskers…I can’t remember, I’m distressingly sober right now).

Color:Â golden, dark (SeanMike), dark amber (Marshall)

Nose:

SeanMike:Â Strongest of orange, masks the rest.Marshall:Â hot, sweet, strong orange smell, cognac very much on par with orange

Taste (straight):

SeanMike:Â Milder orange with a mild burn, lots of hints of something (maybe caramel?) and other flavors.Â Leaves an interesting tingle on the gums.Marshall:Â Seems less viscous; not nearly as sweet; orange tends to be very forward then backs off quickly -> not much after taste.Â Low burn as well.Â Round flavor.

Taste (on ice):

SeanMike:Â Almost a completely different drink.Â Much much less orange, none of th cognac feel and a long, consistent lingering burn.Â A little less syrupy but remains thicker than the others.Marshall:Â Orange is a back note & cognac jumps to the fore; good mouth feel & nice sweetness, still well rounded.

So that’s it!Â Note I didn’t put a conclusion or anything on here.Â I would say that none of them were bad, per se, but rather that they all have their own place.Â I feel like the best by itself was the Creole Shrubb by a long margin, and the G.M. between the other two, but through experience I think Cointreau often works the best as an ingredient in cocktails.

Your mileage, of course, may vary, and I’m sure Marshall will pipe up in the comments to give his $.02 worth.

His is incredibly more detailed and has a lot more products than we have.Â I highly recommend you go hit his blog postings about it – he has some interesting triple secs et al that I haven’t heard of before, and he isn’t handicapped by having half his blog run by a befuddled dolt (that would be the guy on this blog that isn’t bald, thank you very little).

But that might be just the fact that it’s getting seriously close to time to go home for me!

So yeah . . . it’s been since the last MxMo that I’ve posted and for that I’m sorry. Things have been pretty busy lately. I’ve been working at an immigrants’ rights non-profit as a pro bono attorney for the last week. Of course this just means that after a day of do-gooding, I have to go to my “real” job and work on for-profit stuff. Makes for a very busy life with very little free time.

BUT! That doesn’t mean I didn’t constantly think of you dear reader. Well, okay, I didn’t, but I felt bad for not posting, especially since it seems that I’m always promising to post. So here is a post that gives you a good idea of what I’ve been up to for the last few weeks. I hope you enjoy! Plus, there are some recipes peppered throughout.

One thing that has been a constant here at the Den is lamenting the availability of certain spirits in the DC area. Whether it be because the Commonwealth doesn’t like to play ball with small producers or just the time and effort it takes for new products to work into this market, it can be a maddening waiting game. But there are those out there who listen to the cries of us cocktail geeks and work incredibly hard to bring tasty treats to our (my) thirsty lips.Â Â One of these tireless workers is Eric Sneed of Haus Alpenz.Â I have talked to Eric several times and he has been veryÂ informative about when and where I can get some of his tastey treats.Â Hopefully, within the next week or two, I’ll have someÂ bottles that, at least for us cocktail geeks, will be similar to Indiana Jones finding that little golden statue in the opening scenes of Raider’sÂ of the Lost Ark.Â [Little trivia for ya, Â This is a bottle of the Massenez Creme de Gingembre.Â It is a ginger liqueur that smells and tastes just like fresh ginger.Â Not quite sure what I’m going to use it in, but give me time . . .Â Â Â

El Dorado 12 year old demerara rum from Guyana.Â This is a delicious rum.Â Sweet and smooth,Â it made a Bermuda Rum Swizzle taste like I was in the tropics.

Clement Creole Shrub.Â The Creole Shrub is something I have been dying to try for a long time.Â It is an orange liqueur in the vien of Cointreau and Grand Marnier.Â Except where the base spirit in Cointreau is neutral alcohol and in Grand Marier it is cognac, the Creole Shrub is a rum based liqueur.Â The rums are steeped with bitter orange peels and the resulting liqueur is soft, sweet, orangy with just a slight burn/bite from the rum.Â This stuff is delicious!

Zuidam Genever Gin.Â This is an imported gin from Holland.Â Genever is a style of gin that is distilled from malted grain mash, very similar to whisky.Â This style of gin is a bit sweeter than the London Dry style and has a very soft, rounded mouth feel.Â The Zuidam is a popular brand drank by many in the Netherlands.Â My cohortÂ

Shake everything with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.Â Garnish with a lemon peel, or if you want, as I did, a flaming orange twist.

The drink wasÂ excellent.Â The genever gin gave it a smooth round mouth feel.Â Much different that aÂ london dry, such as Plymouth, where the gin is strong lets you know right where it is.Â ThisÂ is a perfect example how one change in a drink, just going to a different style of gin, can change the characterÂ of the drink.Â Â

Â

The last two bottles I acquired are the Boomsma Jonge and Oude Genever gin.Â You’ll notice the difference in colors between the two.Â This is because the Oude is aged for at least one year in oak casks.Â This is the original style of gin.Â The gin cocktails that were being served in the 1800′s were using this style gin.Â A real treat to actually be able to sample the flavors of history.

Of course, with all these new bottles, I have officially run out of bar space.Â I’m thinking of getting rid of things such as “plates” in order to make more room for this hobby of mine.Â Either that or I’m going to have to buy a huge cabinet to keep everything in.Â Eh, what are you going to do!

But, if you’ve been a regular reader of the Den, you’ll know that I like to create things.Â “Concoctioneering” is fun and if things work out, you’ll have a one of a kind cocktail that hopefully will inspire others and make you new friends.Â Hopefully friends that will pay to drink your new cocktail, but, unfortunately, my friends are lazy, good for nothing mooches (I kid, I kid!)Â . . .Â

One of the things I’ve had it in my head to do is a bacon-infused bourbon.Â There are many reasons why this crossed my mind.Â First, I love bacon and I love bourbon.Â These are two complemetary flavors that I wanted to see if I could work into a cocktail.Â Then, I read some blog posts hereÂ (that unfortunately used Jack Daniels) and here, where Blair aka Trader Tiki was greeted with a “Maple Leaf” using a bacon infused bourbon.Â Then I readÂ this article in the December 2007 issue of Food & Wine magazine about Eban Freeman of Tailor in NYC.Â The article discusses the method called fat-washing to infuse a spirit with any flavoring you can think of.Â Hmmmm . . . bacon has fat . . .Â

So here is what I did:Started frying up some bacon . . . ummmmmm.

Once the bacon is cooked, you pour off the melted fat and strain it in order to get any crispy bits out of it.Â Probably don’t have to do this, but I did.Â I only used two cups of Maker’s Mark bourbon for this experiment.Â In the picture below you can see the bourbon inside the container where the infusion will occur, a spoon and a glass to hold the melted fat.

I took the spoon and started stirring the bourbon to get a nice vortex down the middle.Â The I slowly poured the melted fat into the bourbon to get it good and incorporated.Â This is fat washing. Â Then you let it set on the counter until the fat works its way through the bourbon and collects at the top.Â At this point you put the lid on the container and stick in the ice box for 24 to 48 hours.Â When time is up, take out the bourbon and you’ll see that the fat can congealed on top forming a protective layer.Â Remove this fat and then strain the bourbon through a moist coffee filter (this gets rid of any little bits of fat that remain) and bottle.

The results were interesting.Â The bacon gave the bourbon a smokey/savory flavor.Â The inherent sweetness of the bourbon (especially a sweeter bourbon such as Maker’s Mark) was pushed into the background.Â There wasn’t a flavor that I would call “bacon” but there was something there that was familiar to bacon.Â That probably doesn’t make sense, but them be the breaks.

Here is the bottled bacon-infused bourbon with my new friend “Smithfield” that I, ummmm, acquired recently.Â Is it twisted to name a wooden pig Smithfield and pose him with bourbon infused with his fleshy counterparts?Â Yeah, probably, but I like it!

Well folks, I was going to continue and tell you about my pecan-rye and the drink that I came up with for it.Â But it’s late and I’m really tired.Â Check back in a day or two and that will be up.Â As a teaser, the drink tastes exactly like pecan pieÂ . . .